Thursday, May 8, 2008

Heres something else I've been working on. Its a 1965 Snapper Comet 30. As near as I can tell it has a '67 8hp Briggs. The story goes that my great Uncle Paris bought this after it had been used on the Fort Fairfield, Maine golf course for a couple years. Apparently the golf course was hard on it and it had to be re-powered hence the '67 motor. It got used on the farm until about 1990 or so when Reg bought a front engine White mower that we've still got. Of the two the Snapper looks better...

The Snapper then sat under a tree until last fall (2007) when I hauled it to my house.
Anyway its now in my garage, the motor is off but I'm having a terrible time trying to get the pully off it. I've tried drilling but the screws must be made out of magic because no drill I try will cut them. I'd like to repower this with a brand new motor at which point (well, with new tires) it should be pretty much good to go. The next step would be a cosmetic upgrade but it'd be cool to cut the grass with this old mower...

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

What I'm up to now is mostly waiting. My Honda '82 CB900f motorcycle is down for the count waiting for a new tachometer seal. The seal goes in the valve cover and should (along with a new valve cover seal) stop the flow of oil onto my pants.My '89 Kawasaki LTD 454 is waiting for the CB900f to get fixed so I can do basically the same fix on it. The idea was I'd have a bike to ride while I was fixing one. It suddenly occurs to me how stupid that sounds... I think tonight I'll take the Kawi apart too. I've got what I hope are all the parts that one needs. That assumes it either doesn't have the same tach seal problem or that if it does the seal won't come apart and I'll be able to fix it with some RTV. The seal on the CB900f totally shredded so there was no chance of sticking it back together.

Sometime this weekend or next week I should get my old '83 Mercedes 240D (Hammie) back. I'd sold it to my friend Devin a couple years ago when I lived in an apartment and couldn't have 3 vehicles. Now we're at a point where a 3rd vehicle would be handy. The plan is for Angie to drive the 240D since it'll get much better fuel mileage. The rub of course is that diesel fuel is more expensive than gas. So I made up a spreadsheet. For giggles I even included myself and my 190D just to see. Assuming the Dakota is getting the 14mpg the EPA originally estimated (the new estimate is 13mpg) and giving the 240D only 24mpg (when I used to commute with it I was getting more like 28) She's paying $5.00 a day now, thats $1250 a year. With the 240D she'll pay more like $3.67 a day which is $916 a year.

So basically she'll save enough to pay for the insurance on the car.

Theres other benefits though. We'll have 3 cars, if one goes down we're covered. This'll allow us some latitude to actually fix up some cars and save money doing it because I can do more of the work myself without worrying that I'll get us into a spot where we won't have a car available. It'll take miles off the Dakota which is nearing the end of its lifespan and finally it'll give us a 4 seater sedan should we have friends over and all want to go someplace together. The Dakota and my 190D are both 4 seat vehicles that only hold 2 people comfortably...

Anyway the first big mission on the 240D will be a new exhaust. I had one put on right after I bought the car 5 years ago (5 years ago last month actually) and the rear muffler has fallen off. A replacement exhaust is around $200, I paid $450 installed last time so we already see big savings. Its also a good excuse for me to buy lift ramps and a floor jack that a guy at work has for sale...

If anybody is interested in the spreadsheet drop me a note and I'll send it to you.

I mentioned I have another blog "Dead Sled Wrenching" http://dswnewengland.blogspot.com/ its my life and times playing with old snowmobiles. As its summertime (well spring really) my focus is decidedly NOT on old snowmobiles right now....

Its summertime and as my main blog is all about old snowmobiles I'll be doing alot of stuff in the next few months that doesn't fit, hence the need for another blog. There'll probably be alot of cross-polination between the two, theres only one me after all...